Breathes there a soul in Holmes County or in neighboring counties who has not piled local Swiss cheese atop thick slices of Troyer’s Genuine Trail Bologna and called the combo, well, heaven?

They have such a long and symbiotic history. But cheese houses have proliferated. And there is just one Troyer’s Trail Bologna.

Just off State Route 515 in tiny Trail — there’s no post office so Troyer’s mailing address is Dundee — the fourth generation of Troyers have meddled not one whit with the all-beef, hickory smoked family recipe first served up 100 years ago.

Today, brothers Ken, Kevin and Darrin Troyer run the company. Change, they shun, fortunately. But progress, especially in the last several years, they embrace.

Those fat rings of uniquely flavored bologna were still being packaged by hand until five years ago when they bought equipment that speeded the process exponentially, forming the rings and clipping the two ends and adding a string that held the product in its signature shape.

Last year, the plant closed for four weeks while more production changes were implemented. Kevin, 48, supervises the smokehouse while Darrin, 46, keeps watch over packaging.

Ken, the eldest at 54, handles plant management. He says the Christmas holidays and Super Bowl Sunday keep the plant buzzing to meet the demand for products that now are shipped across the country.

During Lent, he added, sales taper a bit, giving him time to attend food shows.

“I was at a show in Dalton Tuesday and we had 65 new stores out of state that placed orders,” he said.

Just nine employees, including the brothers, make 25,000 pounds of bologna in an average week, a figure Michael Troyer, a Mennonite, never could have imagined when he bought the meat market in Trail in 1912. Today, four tons of bologna can be smoked in two hours.

There is no comparison to the old days.

After all, before modern refrigeration became available, keeping a meat product fresh was a challenge. And, Kevin said, their ancestors knew beef had a longer shelf life than pork.

So, next to the slaughter house, they built a dam. When the Buckeye winter freeze set in, friends and neighbors went to work sawing 24-inch-square blocks of ice which they hauled to a specially built ice house where the blocks were stacked, separated by layers of sawdust. That arduous winter project kept the bologna cold through the dog days of summer.

Today, the brothers Troyer have expanded the product line. Sandwich-sized bologna is available at Buehler’s supermarkets. Many stores now carry Troyer’s Hot Pepper Trail Bologna. And if you’re pressed for time, try Cheddar Trail Bologna with chunks of cheddar throughout that melt delectably after a few seconds in the microwave.

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Ken speaks for his brothers and employees when he says he still enjoys a daily Trail bologna-and-Swiss-cheese sandwich at lunch.

And, often as not, he enjoys it sitting on an old stool in the company’s store set just feet off Route 515. Noon is a busy time at the unpretentious gathering place.

A hearty Trail bologna and cheese sandwich wrapped in waxed paper will set you back $2.50.